Close to Milestone, Frankel Eyes 'Anita Stakes

Trainer Bobby Frankel, just three wins short of 800 career victories at Santa Anita Park, saddles horses in both the $150,000 San Pasqual Handicap (gr. II) and the $150,000 San Gorgonio Handicap (gr. IIT) Saturday.

The Hall of Fame trainer, who would join the legendary Charlie Whittingham as the only other trainer to win 800 at Santa Anita, has potential favorites and definite contenders in the 1 1/16-mile San Pasqual for older horses and the 1 1/8-mile San Gorgonio for fillies and mares on turf. Whittingham won 869 races at the Arcadia track, including 204 stakes.

In the San Pasqual, Frankel will send Lundy's Liability, who was voted top older horse at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meeting last October after his victory in the Goodwood Breeders' Cup Handicap (gr. II). The San Pascual is one of the few major stakes at Santa Anita Frankel has never won.

Lundy's Liability, a 5-year-old son of Blushing Groom who is owned and bred by Brazil's TNT Stud, has racked up four wins in just seven starts and has earned more than $1.5 million.

Total Impact, winner of last year's Hollywood Gold Cup (gr. I) for trainer Laura de Seroux and second to Lundy's Liability in the Goodwood, will carry high weight of 120 pounds with Victor Espinoza in the saddle.

Frankel has a pair of mares entered in the San Gorgonio, a race he has won two straight years and six times overall. Defending champion Megahertz, with Garrett Gomez in the saddle, is Frankel's top contender and the likely favorite in a field of 11.

Megahertz has a resume full of graded stakes victories but hasn't won since taking the Santa Barbara Handicap (gr. IIT) in April at Santa Anita. Rene Douglas, who is fast approaching his own milestone with 2,998 victories through Thursday, will ride Frankel's other starter, Theater R.N.

French-bred Ask For The Moon, a group I winner in her native country last year, presents an interesting obstacle to the Frankel pair.